I discovered this site yesterday when BoingBoing linked to another
What Is It? thread (
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/11/06/metal-detectorists-m.html) Cool site.
Spent a lot of time reading this thread (enjoyed it!), and I'd like to offer a fresh perspective.
First of all, I don't think the Gong gi hypothesis has been discounted, but proof is still needed.
I
suspect that they're not, though. Gong gi stones are rare in Texas, and piggman, didn't you say that you found these in
two different football fields? That seems a bit of a stretch for something as rare as Gong gi stones. If they had been found in only one field, I'd be more prepared to accept this hypothesis.
The simplest conclusion that I can come up with is that these must somehow be connected with sports gear of some kind - since both were found in grassy football fields -- were both at middle schools? Athletic shoes would be a logical choice, that these are some kind of removable cleats or studs, perhaps from soccer boots?
I read up on Wikipedia about cleats, and found this: "In football, where the shoes themselves are known as football boots, there are three different cleat types. There are soft ground cleats which are made for wet weather. The soft ground cleats are always replaceable, and are almost always metal, so when they wear down they are easy to replace." That would track.
They're about the right size and shape for studs on Adidas Copa Mundials, which are heavily used by American football placekickers. However, after spending several hours last night pouring over web catalogs of football boots, I couldn't find any pairs that had replaceable studs like these. For one thing, they normally have screws. Could it possibly be from some kind of kids' athletic shoe -- perhaps a cheap knockoff -- where the kids could insert the studs in a customized fashion, so that they leave imprints on the ground? Yes, I know that the imprinted words would be backwards, but like I said, this could be a cheap marketing gimmick for kids -- customizable shoeprints. That would explain why they are reversable designs on the studs.
I hypothesize that the studs themselves would be held in place by some kind of sleeve attached to the bottom of the shoe, maybe hard rubber or plastic? The octagonal part would be inside the sleeve, and only the round part of the stud would be exposed, leaving impressions on the ground. The fact that so many were found near the concrete slab may suggest that wearing them on the concrete made the studs more prone to popping out. The design may not have worked as well in practice as in theory, which is why it didn't catch on.
Have you shown these to people who know kids' athletic shoes? Especially people who knew what kinds of novelty or gimmmick shoes were being sold around 2001-2002?
I suspect that they were unlicensed, and this may lend credence to the idea that they were cheap.
The wildcard is, of course, the race car - why on athletic shoes for kids? Maybe the connotation of speed?
The unknown "mountains" one may be a logo for a shoe brand.
This is all, of course, conjecture. I haven't been able to find any proof. But maybe it's a new direction to look in?
